Jose Mourinho burst into the football world’s consciousness by winning the European Champions League with Porto, knocking out Manchester United along the way.
Looking for a new manager to take them to the next level, and backed by Roman Abramovich’s millions, Chelsea was very quick off the blocks to offer Jose Mourinho the chance to earn and spend big money. Following his arrival in 2004 he won the Premier League two seasons in a row in 2005 and 2006. This was a great achievement and nothing should be taken away from what is an exceptional man manager & football tactician with his minute attention to detail.
But its often overlooked that in the proceeding season Claudio Ranieri took Chelsea to second place, missing out on winning the Premier League title for the first time in Chelsea’s history only by an amazing unbeaten season by Arsenal; a feat never before or since achieved.
Furthermore, it was the likeable Claudio Ranieri who built the foundations of Mourinho’s winning Chelsea team as he was the manager who signed Frank Lampard, Claude Makele, Joe Cole, Petr Cech, William Gallas and Arjen Robben among others, as well as nurturing the young John Terry.
After being sacked by Chelsea in September 2007 he joined Inter Milan in 2008. But again, the team he inherited was a successful one as Robert Mancini had led them to three consecutive Serie A League titles. Absolutely amazing to think Inter Milan sacked Robert Mancini. That is until last week when Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan won the treble (European Champions League, Serie A League Title & domestic cup) for the first time in their history. It was Inter Milan’s first European Cup/Champions League victory since 1965.
So now Jose Mourinho is about to move to Real Madrid to complete what seems to be his destiny: to win league titles in England, Italy and Spain. But Mourinho will inherit a side low on morale, with no big team spirit and a trophy cupboard that has been gathering dust while their bitter rivals, Barcelona are winning silverware and fans alike for playing the beautiful game.
Jose Mourinho will inherit a side high on flair and low on defensive duties. Players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka are not known for their work horse attitudes and unselfish work for the good of the team. It will be very interesting to see how long the Real Madrid president, and indeed the Real Madrid fans will give Jose Mourinho to deliver results.
Personally, I think this is going to be the hardest challenge of Jose Mourinho’s career. If he fails to win the La Liga title at the very least next season he will probably be sacked for the second time in his career. If he brings European success back to Real Madrid then he will rightly earn the self anointed title of “The Special One”.
2 comments so far
1 malagablue // May 27, 2010 at 10:25 am
A couple of points worth mentioning, firstly despite the success of Vialli in winning trophies before him, Ranieri failed to win anything at Chelsea. The original ‘tinker man’ will be remembered by Chelsea fans as costing them a place in the Champions League final by making probably the most obscure substitutions ever against Monaco in the semi finals.
In Spain Real Madrid finished the season just three points behind Barcelona this season, fighting to the finish.
Madrid simply need a manager who can get the best of some of the best players in the world and you would be inclined to back Mourinho on that.
Two seasons ago Barcelona were in a similar position to Madrid, having enjoyed success with Frank Riykaard, both players and manager lost the impetus to move on. Under Pep Guardiola a few subtle changes were made and belief instilled in the players – the rest is history.
2 moris // May 27, 2010 at 10:33 am
As far I know ,REAL MADRID last night admitted they want Jose Mourinho as their new boss – and are set to pay almost £14million for him.
The Spanish giants sacked manager Manuel Pellegrini to clear the way for the arrival of Mourinho at the Bernabeu.
Club president Florentino Perez said: “Bringing in Mourinho – one of the best coaches in the world, if not the best – is an opportunity Madrid couldn’t let pass by.
“A change of coach is always hard but we believe now is the moment to give a new impulse to our project.”
Real must now wait until Mourinho resolves talks with Inter Milan, with whom he has a contract until June 2012, to confirm the Portuguese as their new manager.